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The Ruler ‘Onojie’ in Esan Tradition.
-The Coronation of the Onojie of Urohi by Prince Kelly O. Udebhulu.

Today, 26 day of January, 2019, the Kingdom of Urohi in Esan west local government of Edo state, Nigeria, trado-politically witnessed the coronation and presentation of Staff of Office by the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to the new king, popularly known as “Onojie” in Esan dialect and tradition.

Urohi Kingdom has common boundaries with Ekpoma on the North, Ujiogba on the South-East both in Esan west local government, Uhi/ Ugieghudu on the South both in Uhumwode local government of Edo state. Politically, Urohi is ward 8 in Esan west local government of Edo central senatorial district of Edo state. Around twelve kilometers away from Ekpoma, the headquarter of Esan west local government.

An Onojie or traditional ruler according to Esan tradition is defined as an individual who, by virtue of his ancestry, occupies a ‘sacred stool’ of a community and this person will be selected to it in accordance with the traditions and customs of the Esan community. Simply put, he is the traditional leader of a specific traditional community across Esanland who exercises authority over a number of inhabitants of the area in accordance with customary law of a defined jurisdiction.

According to the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law as enacted on the 24 day of August, 1979; the Law in its preliminary sections defined a Traditional Ruler as “the traditional head of an ethnic unit or clan who is for the time being the holder of the highest traditional authority within the ethnic unit or clan and whose title is recognized as a traditional ruler by the Government of the state”.

Importantly, to ascend to the throne, this individual must be the heir apparent to the throne being the Crown Prince who is traditionally the first biological male child of the present Onojie whose by nature call, joins his ancestor. Simply put, the Onojie as the ruler of the community derives his traditional position by right of being the first son in the royal lineage. The Onojie’s stool is inherited through kinship ties according to the Esan tradition. It doesn’t deviate away from the kingship’s lineage, if it happens, it is an extraordinary circumstance.

This person has traditional authority over the people who live in that community. He regulates the social behaviour within the community that he has control over. An onojie is not in control of service delivery as it is the local government’s responsibility.

However, an Onojie performs a wide range of functions for his community, ranging from providing safety and security, safeguarding tribal sovereignty, allocating and distributing land and settling land disputes, providing spiritual leadership and the administration of justice among his people.

Conclusively, Urohi Kingdom thanks everyone that contributed to the success of this great coronation ceremony and would remain grateful to you all.

For those still wondering where the real batle will beb fought in the febraura elections, well, data speaks for itself. Much of the question has been answered by an infographic provided by GaurdianElections. The infographics display, in a very clear and use-friendly manner, information regarding the number of registered voters across the country according to geopolitical zone.

As usual, the Northwest with 7 states top the chat with about 20 million votes followed by the Southwest with about 16.2 million votes. The lowest in terms of geopoliticla zone with the least registared voters is the Southeast with just about 10 million registered voters. The other zones include Northcentral with 13.3 million votes and the Southsouth and Northeast with 12.million and 11.2 million respectively.

Less than a day after the former minister and Presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria(ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili withdrew from the race for Nigeria’s 2019 Presidential Elections, his running mate, Alhaji Gani Galadima announced he is endorsing President Muhammadu Buhari from the presidential race.

Recall that Galadima who posted a very poor performance in the election debate for vice presidential candidates had earlier alleged that Ezekwesili entered the race because she was looking forward to becoming the Minister of Finance.

Information from sources close to the running mate of the ACPN had hinted that “Galadima is not known and ACPN is not popular. By withdrawing from the race, the opportunity has now knocked at his door to endorse Buhari. This is what he has been looking for”. It is not, however, clear if this is a decision by the Leadership of the party or a unilateral decision of Alhaji Gani Galadima.

Following this development the a statement issued by the party and signed by Galadima and the party’s secretary, Chief Paul Isamade, read (in part), “The reason for calling this press conference is to let the world know about the presidential aspiration of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, which in actual fact, is not the truth. I have been put into confidence by one of her aide named Iyinoluwa Aboyeji that she only wanted to use the platform of the ACPN to negotiate to be Nigeria’s finance minister”.

“This she does not deem fit to inform the party whose mandate she is holding. If you observe, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili is the only presidential candidate who was so militant in her campaign without any tangible thing on ground to indicate any seriousness in the prosecution of her campaign.

“No campaign secretariat, billboard or great commitment on ground to indicate any seriousness. It is on this ground that the ACPN is withdrawing support for her presidential aspiration and endorsing the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari to take Nigeria to the next level.”

In a short video clip posted by the Presidential aspirant of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) on his Facebook page this evening (24.01.2019), he and the other two aspirants Omoyele Sowore, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, together pledged that they would work towards producing a consensus candidate as a unifying front for the 2019 Elections against the two major parties APC and PDP.

Before now, Fela Durotoye had hinted of a potential withdrawal from the race following the earlier withdrawal by Oby Ezekwesili from the race.

Recal that candidates had entered into a voluntary agreement under the the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) umbrella to produce a common candidate, but that has suffered a number of setbacks in terms of procedure of implementation as many of the aspirants pulled out of the arrangement.

In this exclusive piece sent to Pulse, Moghalu says PACT was put together by persons who had colluded among themselves to assassinate his presidential ambition.

Moghalu’s words are reproduced below, unedited:

PACT was a political assassination attempt, a conspiracy by powerful forces to terminate my candidacy for the Office of the President. I was lucky to have survived that ambush and by God’s mercy waxing even stronger since then. My one regret and apology is to my followers and supporters for the gaffe of being lured into a process that was bursting with insincerity.

The one thing that was not made known to the general public is that the forces behind the outcome of PACT were worried about the emergence of a strong, competent and truly independent alternative candidate (me) that will ultimately challenge the status quo in 2019. Today, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and my candidacy are indisputably the alternative in Nigerian politics. We will go on to defeat both the APC and the PDP in next month’s election.

Now let me be clear and for the avoidance of any doubt why I walked away from PACT. The process was basically not transparent, and the first rule in any contest of that nature is that there must be a level playing field. In this case there wasn’t. When I arrived at the venue of the poll on the fateful morning, to my utter surprise, was confronted with the presence and participation of Oby Ezekwesili as the “referee” for the polling. Nothing was explained. Who invited her? There were two other “observers”. Why was I as a participant not informed and my prior agreement sought?

Clearly, something was up, there was an “inside game” going on. Also a small clique, made up mainly of members of the ANN party, where running the show driving it to a pre-determined bus stop and keeping others in the dark.

As an immediate fall-out of this morning’s declaration of Oby Ezekwesili that she would withdraw from the Presidential Race, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is too late for any candidate to withdraw from contesting any position in the upcoming elections.

Further, INEC said this while reacting to the withdrawal of Oby Ezekwesili as presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN)

Recall that Ezekwesili announced her withdrawal on Thursday, saying she wanted to give room for a coalition against candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, reacting via a statement, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, said November 17 was the last date for withdrawal.

The statement read: “It is impossible for any presidential candidate to withdraw from the race now. According to the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 General Elections, the last day for withdrawal by candidates or replacement of withdrawn candidates by political parties was 17th November, 2018 for Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

“The deadline for Ezekwesili or any candidate in that category to withdraw or be replaced has passed.”

Section 35 of the electoral act, which gives deadline from withdrawal from any election, states: “A candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered by himself to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal to the Commission not later than 45 days to the election.”